Damn that happened fast. Sean, one thing I noticed is that when the yellow car started spinning, you were moving a little to the left, and the red 944 may have been intent on passing you without being aware of the incedent up ahead. Although there wasn't nearly enough room, he may have though that you were drifting out as normal, and when you came back in tight, it surprised the heck out of him. With his speed going by you, he probably was already committed to the pass. No doubt it was a complete lack of awareness, but if it was an attempt to make a pass, that should be a 13 month suspension right there.

 

Yeah, that was kind of my point above in #52. WTF??? Incredible.

 

Sean I'm very sorry about your damage. It was an unfortunate incident. I am always amazed at the level of aggresive driving at the start of 90 min enduros. I really love racing, but the sad reality is there are a lot of people out there with no clue. Most peple don't get the "racing" part of racing. If you are blocking in the first lap of a 90 minute enduro, you fall into that category.
I looked up in my mirror to check traffic and saw the yellow 911 come down on the blue 911 and thought "this is not going to be good". I understand your frustration and anger, I have been hit three times.
I think all of the blanket statements about the red 944 are a little unjustified. I have looked at the video several times. I still don't know exactly what I would have done. It all depends on what the 944 could see. You can see the red 944 in your small mirror, and he is directly on your tail. I would be willing to bet he is more focused on your bumper than looking through your windshield. Where you are when you check up, is turning right and coming over a crest. You then move right and the natural flow is to the left -very natural since there is a big wreck to your left. This all happens very fast. The red 944 may have caused your damge, but the yellow 911 was the cause of the wreck. If the red 944 could see the incident as clearly as you and decided to go around you to take advantage of it without checking up, I would call that bad judgement.

---VR and Sean, I removed my right side mirror from my car for this season. I installed an All View panoramic mirror when I started using the R3 head restraint. I also have the same small mirror that Sean has (you can see it in his video). With the panoramic mirror I was not using the right side mirror at all. Not only do I not see it as a safety issue, I think it is much more efficient to look into my rear view mirror and see everything behind and to my right. I have no blind spot with this set up.

 

I thought about that as well Larry, but he saw just like everyone else. Mind you, this all happened at high speeds and very quickly but he had more time than I did to get slowed down and under control and he saw that it was all going to happen to the left. When I first came up on it, it looked like they were going to hook back to the inside. The red car takes quite a while (relatively speaking) to come into the screen. Watch my little mirror on the right side. You can see how fast he comes up.

 

Doug, with a HANS on, you can see someone directly on your right?

 

I am NOT saying it is an excuse in any way, but was the 944 driver a rookie?

 

I hear you Doug, but at a minimum he should have lifted like I did. Everyone saw that smoke and could see everyone up front scrambling. He FLEW by me.

 

It's such a natural reaction to seeing smoke ahead to lift, or brake, until something more can be seen that I have to think the 944 driver did not see it. It's hard to believe that had he seen it he would have taken it as a passing opportunity. It sure would be good to see in-car video from the 944. I wonder what was visible from there.

Has anyone here talked with that driver?

 

Chris, Gary was behind the red 944 and this is what he said.

 

Oops, missed that, Sean. I really hate to think the driver thought it was a good passing opportunity so maybe he was fixated on your bumper and did not see the big picture. Either of those situations is a big problem. WGI is very unforgiving in many (most?) places.

 

Sean, sorry to see you get caught up like that, but very happy to hear that you are physically good.

 

This is why I ask whether he is a rookie. If you are a rookie and you are already nervous about so much traffic, you "could" make the mistake of focusing on your immediate surrounding (e.g., other cars) rather than the distance. We all know how big of a mistake that is, but I would expect this type of mistake to be made by a very green rookie or someone who is very experienced and who thought they could take advantage of the situation to get an advantage. That's why I asked.

 

VR, I use the R3. Yes I can see someone directly to my right. I don't have a head containment seat, but if I did it would be even more important to not have to use my right side passenger mirror.BTW the "ALLVIEW" brand panoramic mirror is superior to the Longacre type. It is glass and has no distortion. You can see my mirror set up in this video. Obviously the view from the camera is different than what I see.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=

 

Thanks, Doug, very interesting. Nevertheless, does PCA allow no right side mirror w/o also mandating a pano mirror like you have?

 

Yeah Sean, it's a tough deal. I was not referring to your comments just some of the people pilling on. It is what it is. It just sucks.